Looking to attract more clients and boost your personal training business? Then you've come to the right place! In this article, we'll dive into 8 effective strategies that will help you attract new clients and take your business to new heights without spending a dollar.
How you ask? You know the saying...
The riches lie in the niches
That is true! You need to create a compelling offering that targets a specific niche and do that 5x better than your competition. Then, it comes down to marketing and having your clients bring you back more clients.
Don't worry, whether you're just starting out or looking to expand your current client base, we will cover everything in crucial detail so you're set...
From leveraging the power of social media to building strategic partnerships, we'll walk you through each step. Engaging with your target audience, showcasing your expertise, and providing valuable content are all key components to attracting potential clients. With the right combination of authenticity and professionalism, you'll be able to make a lasting impression on potential clients.
So, if you're ready to grow your personal training business and stand out from the competition, keep reading. These proven strategies will help you attract more clients, increase your revenue, and take your business to the next level. Let's get started!
You can read this guide from the top or dive into specific sections that interest you.
Why you need more clients
As a personal trainer, your primary goal is to help your clients achieve their fitness goals and transform their lives. However, to do that, you need to have a steady stream of clients coming through your door. Attracting personal training clients is crucial to the success and growth of your business.
Building a thriving personal training practice requires a strategic approach to marketing and client acquisition. It's not enough to simply be an excellent trainer; you also need to effectively communicate your value proposition and make yourself visible to your target audience. By implementing effective client attraction strategies, you can differentiate yourself from the competition, establish your expertise, and create a steady flow of new clients.
Remember, as a Personal Trainer or Fitness Coach, you have to do it all. It's a tough job but one that will keep you fulfilled and wanting more when done the right way!
You need to train your clients and wear a business hat to drive growth for your business
Who is your target client profile and why you shouldn't skip this step
To effectively attract personal training clients, it's crucial to have a deep understanding of your target audience. Take a moment to answer these questions for yourself.
Who are the individuals you want to serve, and what are their specific needs, goals, and pain points?
The key is to be as specific as possible. Here's a template you can use to help you define your target segment. <Specific audience> looking to <specific goal>
Here are some examples:
Post-partum women looking to lose fat and gain strength
Basketball athletes looking to improve their basketball skills through a holistic program
Note you can be catering to more than one audience segment with more than one goal. Just take the time to define this really well.
Knowing your target audience will help you tailor your marketing efforts, create relevant content, and position your services in a way that resonates with them.
You can add even more detailing to your ideal client profile. Consider factors such as age, gender, fitness level, lifestyle, and any specific health or wellness goals they may have. Understanding the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your target audience will allow you to craft messaging and marketing strategies that speak directly to their needs.
It's also important to research your local market and understand the competitive landscape. Analyze the offerings and marketing strategies of other personal trainers in your area, and identify the unique value you can provide to your target clients. This will help you differentiate yourself and position your services as the best fit for your ideal clients.
Do not skip this step!
It sounds like a lot of work and it may feel like doing this research isn't going to get you new clients right away, right?
100% not true
90%+ of Personal Trainers and Coaches skip this step and dive straight into "how do I grow my client base?" This means, majority of your competition actually doesn't have the most compelling, thought-out offering.
Building a strong understanding of your strengths and who you want to cater to will give you an edge over your peers and one that will last.
Think of this as your mission statement or guiding principles to help you make decisions for growing your business. This one-time effort will set you up for success and time saved in the future.
Let's move on...
8 Strategies for Finding More Clients with $0 ad spend
Having worked with Personal Trainers & Coaches in 20+ countries, here are some evergreen strategies for growing your client base. Let's start...
Leveraging Social Media to Drive Leads For You
Have you tried posting online countless times to see no results? Well, here are the secrets to using social media the right way:
1. Learn how the algorithm works
Each social media platform has an algorithm or a specific criteria backing it up that drives up views on content. Knowing this is the key to posting content smartly to drive up your results.
It's also important to pick 1-2 platforms to drive up your leads and do it well. There are pros and cons with each platform so choose one where you are most comfortable to post frequently and one where you will find your target audience! Focus will get you results.
Here are two social media platforms we recommend you start with that Personal Trainers have used with success.
Instagram & Facebook
Each post has a limited life (unlike Youtube). Your audience is always looking for new, fresh posts.
Posting frequently and consistently is important to driving up views. Consistency means try to post at the exact same days and times every week.
Engagement is important! The more likes and longer views you get, the more your post will be shown to non-followers and hence, for you to grow your following
Great for driving discovery of your personal brand and offering.
Youtube
Each post has a much longer life!
Content is shown based on your audience searching for those queries (unlike Instagram). This means that your audience here is serious about the content they want to view and more likely to convert to your offering
An added bonus is that youtube videos are shown on Google search results as well! More ways to be discovered by more serious searchers.
The key is to do keyword research well and target those niches we spoke about earlier
2. Copy formats that work best
What is the secret to posting really effective content and driving up views?
The secret to posting effective content is to copy the format and provide your unique value
So how do you copy the format?
This means, scan peers that are doing well in your industry. Take note of what they are doing well.
What topics are they covering?
Do they post testimonials and results? How do they show that?
How long is their content? Is it a quick how-to video or is it a longer tutorial? Which one does better?
How do they structure their videos?
What does their opening look like?
What hashtags are they using?
Take these inputs and apply them to your content. This is structure you will use for your own content. It seems like a lot of work, but trust us, it is a one-time effort that will pay you back manifold over.
Now onto...how to provide your unique value?
Once you copy the format, now you need to add your unique perspective and value. This is how you will differentiate from your peers. The topic and format may be copied but the content will be originally yours. That is the secret to cracking organic social media growth.
This works for both Instagram/Facebook and Youtube.
Tell your audience what to do once they view your content!
This is the most important part of leveraging social media to drive leads. This is also the most-skipped part. You have to make it as easy and frictionless as possible for your audience to get in touch with you.
If you want your audience to sign up for your services, you need to give them that option.
If you don't tell your audience what to do, they won't know what to do!
Instagram & Facebook
Ensure that your link-in-bio tells your audience about your services and gives them an option to get in touch.
Use a free app like EZbook to setup a free professional lead capture form in seconds. Use this to drive leads!
Make sure you tell your audience through your posts to sign up using the link-in-bio.
Note a well-optimized form is easier for your audience than having to DM you and come up with a few lines to say. Your audience will prefer to submit a quick form so you come back to them.
How to Convert Leads into Paying Customers
Let's say you've received a couple of leads. Now it is time to convert leads into paying customers! Here are some top tips to improving your chances drastically of getting a paying customer.
Reply immediately: Your prospects are looking for a solution now! The longer you wait to reply, the more likely they'll find another solution that gets to them quicker. Reply to them as soon as possible!
Strong pitch: Create a compelling pitch. Use that pitch to convince your leads that you are the right Coach for them. Give them assurance that you will be flexible in your approach and work your best to get them results. Need help with a pitch? Learn about how to create a strong pitch in this detailed guide.
Free trial: If you are starting out, it helps to offer a free trial session. Spend a few minutes understanding your prospective client's goals and create a great free session for them to try your services. This is your best bet to convince them to buy a multi-session package from you.
Discounted, special price: If your prospective clients are interested, create some "fomo" by letting them know you're offering a special discounted price this month or if they signup within 7 days. It could be 2 free sessions on a package of 10 paid sessions. Or it could be a flat x% off for first time clients. Everyone wants a great deal!
Make it convenient for them: Being more flexible on your terms can be a great advantage that other Personal Training businesses may not offer. This means offering flexible payment terms, doing home visits, or allowing last minute scheduling.
How to get back in touch with older leads
You may capture leads that may not convert to paying customers right away. Is there a way to engage with them and continue being in touch?
Yes, absolutely.
In fact, most Personal Trainers ignore leads that don't convert at first and never get back in touch with them.
The best way to do so is to send curated, thoughtful content to your lead base every two weeks or month. More than how frequently you engage, it is more important to send thoughtful and apt content that makes leads want to convert to you at some point!
Constantly bombarding your older leads with a sales-y sign up is going to push them even farther away.
We recommend using emails (preferably), Whatsapp, SMS, or Facebook groups to engage with your leads. What you use to engage with your leads will depend on what platform is most comfortable and accessible to your leads and to you. If you do choose emails (which we recommend), here's how you can engage with your older leads and even clients who left you earlier.
How to do email marketing for free:
Use a lead capture form to capture leads from your social media channels, your blog, and any other place you market your services. You can use a free tool like EZbook to create a stunning, professional lead page in 30 seconds!
Set up an email platform with which you'd like to start communicating with your leads. Here are some free tools to send out emails:
Gmail: Free forever and easy to use but over time can get tedious as everything is manually done.
Systeme.io: Has a free version where you can set up a newsletter for upto 500 leads. This is great to automate your emails being sent out.
Mailchimp & Brevo: These two tools also offer a generous free plan for you to begin email marketing.
Follow the 3Es of content marketing. Make your emails educational, entertaining, or emotional.
Every email should include a small section or one-liner that let's them know how to get in touch with you if they want to try a session!
How to improve client retention and drive referrals
Your clients are paying you to see results that you've indicated you can get for them. So what is the best way to retain clients?
Showing clients that they have made real progress is the single best way to drive up referrals
It's worth noting that Personal Trainers get 98% of new clients via referrals from existing clients so this is an extremely important channel for us.
So what's the best way to track and share your client's progress?
Capture assessment and goals
Capture current metrics whether that is a weight + body fat goal or maybe a goal to squat a certain weight. It's always important to establish and track a baseline. That's how progress is measured.In EZbook, you can define a quick assessment template and copy-paste it to capture progress checks.
Log frequent progress checks
Now that you defined your goals, it's important to track progress against them. Remember to use the same assessment templates to track your goal metrics. A best practice is to do this every month.
Workout (PRs) Personal Records
In addition to tracking progress against goals, you can also track workout PRs! It's motivating to see improvements in strength, speed, and agility.
Now it's time to share the progress with your clients!
EZbook lets you share a view-only link of sessions and their progress to your clients which they can access any time! Sharing timely and frequent progress checks can be motivating for your clients and give them the inclination to continue training with you.
Get Started with EZbook in Seconds. Sign up for Free.How to drive up referrals from your existing client base
Here's a 3-step process for driving up referrals for your business:
Reach out to happy customers
This one is obvious but it is important to ask your biggest supporters to share your services with their network! Asking unhappy or disgruntled customers to share may actually lead to them actively demote your services (which we don't want).
Give them your lead capture form and ask them to share it with their friends and family If you want your clients to share your services with their network, you need to make it easy for them to do so. Everyone is busy and the easier and more frictionless you make it for them, the better it can be. That's why we recommend sharing your EZbook lead capture page with a short message like this: "Hey Reina! I hope you are enjoying our training sessions. I'd love to help your friends and family start their fitness journey. I'm running a referral program where you and someone you recommend my services to would both get 10% off for a full month. It's pretty easy how this works: 1. Share this link <your EZbook lead capture form> with your friends and family. It includes a short blurb about my services and they can get in touch with me through this link. 2. Once they sign up, I'll give them 10% off their first month and you'll also get 10% off next month.
Let's crush those goals together!"
Offer a discount to the referrer and the referee! In our experience, an incentive to both really helps in driving up referrals. You don't have to give a % discount. You can even do the following:
Offer a free trial session for the referee and 1 bonus session for the referrer
Host a free educational (online) workshop for those that referred
Partner up with a nutritionist or someone in the fitness field and offer a free session with them
Just remember, the incentive has to be something exciting for both parties!
Personal & Professional Network Outreach
Did you previously work for someone else? Perhaps a gym, a studio, or you worked with a Personal Trainer? It helps to go through your contacts and reach out to your older clients. You can also reach out or friends and family letting them know that you've started on their own.
You can edit and use a template like this one:
"Hey Jackie! It's been a while. Hope you're doing well! I wanted to let you know that I am offering Personal Training services under my own brand - FitLife. I offer personalized training programs tailored to your goals, whether it's building strength, improving endurance, or just feeling healthier and more confident. Let's crush those goals together. If you or anyone you know is interested, you can get in touch using this link <your EZbook lead capture form>.
Thanks much! Take care."
Best practices:
Keep the message short and sweet. No one reads long messages
Make sure it is very clear how interested leads can get in touch with you. Leaving it open ended or asking them to call / message does entail some level of friction so be mindful of that.
Using a lead capture form will get all your leads into one place - EZbook so you won't miss a lead when it comes it. EZbook also sends out email notifications the minute a lead arrives.
Strategic Partnerships and How to Set One Up
As a Personal Trainer, you may be knowing others in the industry. Here are some ways you can utilize a partnership to drive up your lead inflow:
Nutritionists: This is an apt and great partnership for most Personal Trainers working with clients who want to lose fat or gain muscle tone. Partner up with 1-2 of them so you can cross refer each other's services. This is a win-win situation for you both.
Physiotherapists: Anyone with muscle pain? Poor posture? Lower back pain? You can work with Physiotherapists to help their patients get strength back.
Doctors: You can work with General Practitioners (general fitness), Orthopaedic Doctors (getting strength & mobility back), Obstetricians (pregnancy and post-partum health)... the possibilities are endless. Make sure you are qualified to help with these services.
How to set up a partnership:
Here are four simple steps to setting up your first partnership:
Research: Research partners in your area (if you offer in-person training) or partners in the same time zone as you (if online training). Make sure that you find partners that are relevant and enthusiastic about your offerings.
Outreach: Reach out to partners via email and do send 1-2 reminders. Partners can be busy and a cold email rarely gets an immediately reply. If you know partners well, feel free to get on a call with them. If a partner responds, set up a call or meeting to finalize how things would work.
Set Up Offer: This is important. You have to think about "what's in it for them?" What would your partner want in return. Here are a few ways to make a compelling offer:
Cross-refer clients. You share your clients and I share mine with you.
Offer a discount to your clients
Offer a commission for the referral
System: How will you track referrals, commissions, and the incoming leads? Use our FREE referral tracker template to start tracking leads.
Pro tip:
Start with 1 partnership and choose a partner that is not the most important one. This will help you streamline the kinks before you go to your more important partners
The Show-Off Technique
If none of the above works, you need to try this! It's a great way to get your first few clients.
Here's how it works:
Find multiple gyms or public spaces to work out in. It can be costly to rack up memberships for multiple gyms so even utilizing free public spaces like parks can be a great option.
Plan your workouts at peak traffic times! Workout when most people are likely to be there to check you out.
Show off! Show off your strengths through your own workouts.
Want another secret? Take a friend along to your workouts and pretend to train them (or actually train them for free). This gets great visibility and is a lead magnet when done right.
Chat around and network with those around you. When done right, you should be hearing from people around you asking you what you do. This is a great way to hand over a business card and get some leads!
We know multiple successful trainers who landed their first clients using this technique.
Ready to get started?
Whether you are starting out or are a seasoned coach, you need a system in place that helps you keep track of how you're doing and most importantly, sets you up for growth.
EZbook will help you track client sessions, payments, income and more in just 2-clicks. Schedule sessions in advance, track and share client progress, and do more with an easy, intuitive design.
Get started in seconds...
EZbook has a generous free plan and can scale with you as a solo trainer to a large team. Try it for free today!
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